Unlike the results of Cooking, the dried food created will always be completely fresh. This means a spoiled Morsel can be dried to get a completely fresh piece of Small Jerky. Dried food left on a Drying Rack does not spoil until collected.
The Hermit Drying Rack works just like a drying rack, except that it cannot be destroyed or burned.
Tips
Drying Racks are very useful for storing Meats. Jerky and Small Jerky take 20 days to completely spoil, while Meat and Morsel will spoil in 6 days, and cooked Meat/Morsel will spoil in 10 days. Storing any kind of jerky in the Ice Box will give 40 days before they spoil, allowing the player to focus on concerns other than gathering fresh food.
It is a good idea to build some racks early on (i.e. before the first Winter). The player may then store meat on the Drying Racks ready for the Winter, which will easily last throughout Winter once picked. Additionally, the Jerky versions provide improved stats over regular and cooked Meats.
Drying a Fish, Frog Legs, or Drumstick will turn them into Small Jerky, which prevents it from being used as a specific ingredient for certain Crock Pot meals, such as Fish Sticks (which need fish) or Froggle Bunwich (which need frog legs).
All the meat listed above can still be dried during winter. This is a very useful method for restoring health and sanity.
Due to the fact that the food items prepared on a Drying Rack are still technically uncooked, Wagstaff still takes the -3 health penalties eating dried food items, dampening their healing effects.
One can dry a pair of Poison Dartfrog Legs on a Drying Rack to remove their poisoning effects and gain the benefits from a Small Jerky, while it can also used as a cooking ingredient in a Crock Pot.
In the Hamlet DLC, indoor Drying Racks are not affected by Rain.
Trivia
Even though the Koalefant Trunk counts as meat, it cannot be hung on the Drying Rack.
The Hermit Drying Rack was introduced to Don't Starve Together in the She Sells Sea Shells update.
Bugs
In Reign of Giants, Jerky left on the Drying Racks in the Caves may not continue to spoil while the player is in the surface world.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even.